Jean-Gabriel Marchand

Jean-Gabriel Marchand (10 December 1765-12 November 1851) was a General of Division of the French Army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.

Biography
Marchand was born in L'Abenc in Dauphine, France, in 1765. Originally an attorney, he rose to become a company commander during the French Revolutionary Wars. After the death of Barthelemy Catherine Joubert in the 1799 Battle of Novi, Marchand was transferred to the Rhine, where he fought in 1800. At the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1805 he fought the Austrian Empire and played a major role as a division commander under Michel Ney in the Battle of Jena. In 1807 he fought at the Battle of Eylau and Battle of Friedland, and a year later was sent to Spain.

Marchand took over Ney's battered army in the Peninsular War and was defeated in the Battle of Tamama at the start of his campaign by the Spanish. Marchand led a small army to Valencia in 1812 to reinforce general Jean Rapp's army, but retreated after the Portuguese took the city later in the year. He played no major role in the other battles, retreating north and avoiding battle. He was transferred to fight in Russia and in the German Campaign, but he was defeated in the Battle of Geneva in 1814 by an Austrian division shortly before Emperor Napoleon was overthrown.

In later 1814, during the peace, Marchand was made the commander of a division of the Kingdom of France and in 1815 was sent to stop Napoleon at Grenoble. As Napoleon's growing army marched on the city Marchand surrendered, and the Bourbon government tried him for treason. He was acquitted, and died in Saint-Isimer in 1851.